By Stephanie Wang, Times Staff Writer
Friday, November 12, 2010
TAMPA — In July, there was a message on the machine at work: Danielle Skiver's long-lost biological mother wanted to get in touch.
In October, there was another, more urgent message from the woman: Skiver's sister had a baby and couldn't keep him. Would Skiver pay $75,000 to adopt him?
They weren't going to "get rid of this kid for peanuts," Skiver said the woman told her.
Horrified, Skiver called authorities. And through the subsequent investigation, which last week led to the arrests of her birth mother and sister, Skiver found out something else.
This was not the first time Patty Bigbee, 45, talked of cash when giving away a baby.
It had happened 27 years ago, when she placed Skiver for adoption.
Until this year, all Skiver had been told about her birth mother was that Bigbee wasn't a very good person.
Bigbee gave birth to Skiver in 1983. Working in an Ohio restaurant, she overheard a couple talk about wanting children. Soon after, she carried her baby girl to the bank next door, where the wife worked.
"She handed me over," Skiver said, "and that was it."
But Skiver recently discovered that while her adoptive parents had lawyers draw up paperwork, Bigbee started hitting them up for cash.
I need a car, she'd say. I need a place to stay.
"You know, it would make me less likely to change my mind if you would give this to me," Bigbee would threaten, according to Skiver.
In the months that followed, Skiver said, they gave her $30,000.
"You know, I'm an adult now and it's in the past," said Skiver, who lives in Valrico with her family of six. "But it's disappointing to know that you came from a person like that, who put money before her own child."
• • •
As soon as the adoption papers were signed, Skiver's new parents moved to Tampa to escape Bigbee.
While Skiver began a happy life in her new home, Bigbee gave birth to another child. The details are scant: His name is Michael, he's 25, and Skiver suspects he was traded in a similar arrangement.
Bigbee had a daughter, too: Stephanie Bigbee Fleming, 22, who was adopted by a grandmother while Bigbee tangled with the law.
Bigbee's arrest records show an armed robbery in Michigan that sent her to prison in 1999. She and a few other inmates filed a sexual abuse complaint against a prison official, according to news reports.
In 2002, she was accused of retail fraud and in 2005 was charged with a stolen property felony.
In 2008, Bigbee won the $1 million Missouri Powerball lottery.
And last week, Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents arrested her in Daytona Beach on charges of communications fraud and the illegal sale of a child.
• • •
Florida statutes prohibit selling or arranging to sell children, even to relatives. Adoptive parents can pay for the birth mother's medical and living costs before the child is born and for six weeks after.
But cash on the condition of surrendering parental rights? That's illegal.
In her first conversation with Skiver, Bigbee didn't put a price tag on her grandson. Baby Aidan was born on Aug. 24 to Bigbee's other daughter, Stephanie Bigbee Fleming, whom Skiver has never talked to or met.
"We'll give him love and a nice home," Skiver remembers telling Bigbee.
But then through Facebook, Bigbee asked for $75,000 in return.
As Skiver talked with law enforcement authorities, Bigbee haggled over the price, according to her arrest report. The sister would settle for $60,000, Bigbee said. Then, $50,000.
The economy's rough, Bigbee conceded. Let's make it $30,000.
Within a week, they had a deal.
• • •
Skiver had contacted Tampa police, but because the situation spanned several counties, it became a matter for statewide law enforcement officials.
They recorded her phone conversations with Bigbee, catching her requests for the Skivers to wire money to her bank account. Later, Bigbee decided she wanted a cashier's check, records show.
"Basically, it was just a business transaction," Skiver said.
While Skiver set up a trap for Bigbee, records show the Florida Department of Children and Families was looking into a complaint that Fleming had abandoned Aidan with Bigbee.
On Nov. 5, law enforcement staged simultaneous stings. In Bradenton, an undercover agent posing as a paralegal met with Fleming. She and the biological father signed adoption papers.
In Daytona Beach, the Skivers met with Bigbee and her boyfriend, Lawrence Works, 42.
The Skivers brought a $30,000 check and some law enforcement agents. Bigbee brought Aidan.
It was the first time Skiver had seen her biological mother in 27 years, but Bigbee didn't talk to her, didn't even look at her.
"She just said, 'Aidan, meet your new mommy,' and put him in the car," Skiver said.
• • •
Aidan has beautiful brown eyes, Skiver said, bright ones that grab your attention.
He fell asleep in the car while Bigbee and Works were arrested.
Fleming later admitted to authorities that she knew about the sale, records show.
She did not know, however, that Bigbee had bartered a $30,000 exchange. Fleming told authorities she believed only $10,000 was on the table: $9,000 for her, $1,000 for Bigbee.
The investigation is ongoing and Bigbee remains jailed in Volusia County, but Skiver said she's ready to move on.
There's a place in her six-bedroom house for Aidan, if Skiver can adopt him.
But Bigbee? There still won't be room for her in Skiver's life. "I've never considered myself her child," Skiver said. "I don't want to have anything to do with her."
Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report.